We were once a great nation. We loved God, and God blessed us. We have never been perfect, but although evil has always existed in our country, most people recognized it as evil, and fought against it.

Today, this has changed. The majority of Americans no longer follow God. We not only accept evil, we embrace it. We embrace greed and materialism. We embrace abortion and hedonism. We accept hatred and violence as a means to achieve our ideological goals. We elect evil leaders, and then defend their evil words and actions.

For the most part, the American church no longer stands on the Bible as truth. Most Christians try to justify sin by ignoring the parts of the Bible that condemn their actions, or by twisting God’s words to mean the opposite of what they actually say.

Because America has turned from God, He is judging us. We are reaping what we have sown. 9-11, Ferguson, Charlottesville, Obama, Trump, the alt-right and alt-left, anger and hatred, are the direct consequence of our turning from God. And, unless we repent and turn once again to Jesus Christ as our foundation, things will become progressively worse than they already are. The United States will collapse from within.

It’s rare that I agree with liberals on anything. I’m a conservative Christian with libertarian leanings. On environmental issues, I rarely agree with the left-wing environmental whackos who believe humans are an invasive species and are causing global warming. I believe our natural resources should be used in a responsible manner. Take care of the environment, but develop our natural resources for the benefit of all. However, there is an environmental issue that’s been under the radar of the mainstream media where I’m finding myself on the opposite side of the fence from where I usually stand.

Near the small town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, activists have been protesting the construction of a crude oil pipeline which they say threatens the water supply of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and others downstream. The protests, which began with a few members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe back in April, has grown to an estimated 2000+ people from dozens of tribes across the nation as well as non-Native supporters. The occupation and protests have been extremely peaceful, with only a handful of arrests for minor incidents. The rhetoric on social media from non-Native people has been extremely vulgar and racist, and the mainstream media has either demonized the protestors or ignored the protests completely. The state of North Dakota has blocked off access to the protestor’s camp and removed water tanks.

What’s the Dakota Access Pipeline?

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a new approximately 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline currently under construction which would carry crude oil from production areas in northwestern North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry the oil to the Gulf Coast refineries. The pipeline is being built by Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., a Texas-based company.

Why Are People Protesting?

There are a number of reasons why protestors are fighting construction of the DAPL:

The proposed pipeline crosses under the Missouri River just a few hundred yards upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation, and a leak would potentially destroy the main water source for the Reservation.

A leak would also affect the water supply of millions of people further downstream.

The pipeline would disturb ancestral sites that the Sioux hold sacred.

The pipeline would violate provisions of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

They believe the Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Historic Preservation Act when it approved the project.

Historical Context

Map by Kmusser from Wikipedia

In 1868, the Treaty of Fort Laramie established the Great Sioux Reservation, which covered the western half of South Dakota and parts of North Dakota and Nebraska. This treaty was almost immediately broken by the United States Government. The United States has subsequently used legislation and force to steal the majority of the land, leaving the various Sioux tribes with ever shrinking reservations. The Sioux were stripped of their culture, their lands, and their language. Their children were forced to attend government and church run boarding schools, often hundreds of miles from their families, where they were further stripped of their customs, language, and religion.

Conditions today on the Sioux Reservations are deplorable. Reservations in North and South Dakota are among the poorest places in the United States. The Standing Rock Reservation has an unemployment rate of over 80%. Alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide are rampant. Most housing is extremely substandard and would be condemned anywhere else. Only about a third of students graduate from high school. The tribe lacks basic medical care, infrastructure, and economic development. There are very few resources to change any of these conditions.

In this context, for the United States government to approve the Dakota Access Pipeline along a route that threatens the primary water source for the Standing Rock Reservation is reprehensible. The government has already stripped them of almost everything they had, and now threatens to destroy what little they have left. This is morally unacceptable!

The Solution? Move the Pipeline!

While many of the protestors want to do away with the pipeline altogether, the best solution I see is to move the pipeline further east to avoid having to cross the Missouri River. The pipeline could be routed along the boundary between the Missouri River and James River watersheds, minimizing dangers to water supplies and avoiding culturally sensitive areas. Another option would be to route the pipeline east to the existing Keystone Pipeline, either connecting with the existing pipeline, or building a new pipeline parallel with it. Both of these two options would cost the developers more than the current proposed route, but would reduce the potential environmental impact and avoid the ancestral sites the Sioux hold sacred. The oil companies would get their pipeline, and the Sioux would have their clean water source.

Litigation

The Standing Rock Tribe has sued developers over the DAPL, and developers have counter-sued the tribe. A federal judge is expected to rule by September 9.

I used to think that the United States was teetering at the edge of disaster. I no longer believe this; we’ve deliberately jumped off the edge and are plunging toward destruction at the bottom.

Bush and Obama are not what caused this; they are merely symptoms. And neither Trump nor Clinton can save us.

The United States was founded on Biblical principles. For the most part, we followed Jesus Christ and built our values around the Word of God. Although evil has always existed in America, we knew it was evil, and most of us worked to get rid of the evil.

Today, we’ve mostly rejected Jesus Christ. We follow whatever we want to follow, and embrace evil as “diversity” or “protecting our rights.” The American Church, for the most part, embraces behavior that the Bible clearly labels as sin, and claims it’s the only “loving” thing to do.

Although the prophet Isaiah was talking about Israel, he pretty much nails the situation in America today: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

As it was in Israel, so I believe it will be in the United States:

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,So their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people;
He has stretched out His hand against them
And stricken them,
And the hills trembled.
Their carcasses as refuse in the midst of the streets. (Isaiah 5:24-25).

This year’s Presidential election only confirms my belief. We the people have selected the two most corrupt, evil candidates in American history as our Democratic and Republican nominees. It doesn’t matter which one is elected; either way, we’re putting an evil person into the highest office in the land. Many Christians are saying, “Yes, Hillary’s evil, but at least she’s not Trump,” or “Yes, Trump’s evil, but at least he’s not Hillary.” And they’ll go on to talk about what will happen to the Supreme Court and Congress if their candidate isn’t elected.

I’ve got a news flash for you, Christian: Either way, we put evil into the White House. Either way, God is judging us for our lack of faith in Him. Either way, we are plunging to our destruction. And either way, nothing will stop the destruction other than repenting, and once again turning to Jesus Christ, rather than trusting in ourselves.

This election is not about whether Trump can save us from Hillary, or Hillary can save us from Trump. It’s about whether we continue trusting our politicians to save us, or once again turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

I fear America is about to crash and burn. Then, out of the rubble, God can make us His people again, if we so choose.

Once upon a time, a passenger ship struck a reef and tore a hole in its hull.

As the ship began to sink, it listed to the starboard (right) side. The passengers on the left side were unhappy. They got rid of the captain, and replaced him with a new captain who turned the ship so that it listed to the port (left) side.

The people on the right side were now unhappy, so they got rid of that captain. They replaced him with a captain who turned the ship so that in now listed to the right again.

The passengers on the left and the passengers on the right began to argue over whether the ship would sink faster listing to the right, or listing to the left. Each side would get rid of the opposite-leaning captain, and replace him with one that would turn the ship to their side. Each time the direction of the ship changed, it listed further and further to either the left or right. As the ship swung further to the right, then the left, the passengers on each side became angrier and angrier. Each side became convinced the ship was sinking because it was the other side’s fault.

Eventually the ship sank, not because it was listing, but because everyone ignored the gaping hole in its hull.

The sinking ship is the United States. And we’re sinking fast.

The problem is not that we have swung too far to the liberal left or the conservative right. The problem is that we have a gaping hole in our foundation that neither side is willing to recognize and address.

The United States was founded on biblical principles. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were based on biblical concepts. Granted, we have never completely followed those principles in actual practice – we did allow slavery and we did exterminate millions of indigenous people, among other things. Nevertheless, we generally acknowledged right and wrong based on biblical principles, even though we often failed to follow those principles. Our foundation was based on God’s truth, even if we didn’t always follow the truth. God blessed us as a nation, because we acknowledged Him.

Somewhere along the way, we began to reject the truth. Cracks appeared in our foundation, and God’s blessing began to diminish.

We swung to the left under F.D.R. and Truman. We swung back to the right under Eisenhower.

A little further to the left under Kennedy and Johnson. Back to the right under Nixon and Ford.

Hard swing left under Carter, with an ever harder swing to the right under Reagan and Bush 1.

Clinton swung us left again, Bush 2 back to the right.

Obama has nearly capsized us to the left.

Now we’re fighting over whether to allow Hillary to push us further left, or whether to have Trump jerk us completely over to the right again.

The problem is, the cracks in our foundation have become gaping holes, and we’re too blind to see it. And, we’re reaping the consequences.

Americans no longer have a biblical foundation for their worldviews. Both the left and the right openly defy God. The left openly mocks biblical truth regarding sex and marriage. The right has abandoned biblical truth regarding the poor and greed. Although many on both sides give lip service to God, the vast majority of our leaders and most of the population live as though God is irrelevant. Because we have rejected God, we are reaping what we have sown. We are reaping terrorism, racism, hatred, and fear.

America is sinking fast. Unless we repent and turn back to Jesus Christ, we will destroy ourselves. We must plug the gaping hole in our national foundation. It won’t matter if we capsize to the left, or to the right. The result will be the same. We will be destroyed, unless we turn back to God before it’s too late.

The United States of America is more divided than at any time I can remember. We are divided by politics. We are divided by income. We are divided by religion. We are divided by ethnicity.

The current campaigns for the Presidency exemplify this division. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has used the most divisive political rhetoric I’ve ever heard, and has drawn protests and threats from many different groups, from far-left liberals to far-right conservatives. Other candidates are exploiting Trump’s rhetoric to further divide Americans. It seems that all of the candidates are seeking to divide Americans into “us” versus “them,” although most do it far more subtly than Mr. Trump. From Bernie Sanders, it’s the “have nots” versus the “haves.” From Hillary Clinton, it’s women versus men and the white majority versus racial minorities. From Donald Trump, it’s anyone who disagrees with him versus those who don’t. And, from Ted Cruz, it’s anyone who supports the Democrats or Trump versus conservatism. We have candidates who want to make us into a socialist state, who are being sued for fraud, and who are facing possible FBI indictment. There have been protests, some with violence; threats against candidates’ families; and threats of more violence.

America is a mess. The police have been accused of racially motivated killings. Police officers have been assassinated. Protests are becoming more frequent and more violent. Terrorism and mass murders are becoming common. The average household is becoming poorer, while the rich are becoming richer. Abortion, homosexuality, divorce, pornography, and sex outside marriage are widely accepted, and pedophilia, polygamy, and bestiality are gaining acceptance. Greed and power are considered to be virtues, and caring for others is considered less important than taking care of self.

Who can save America?

Depending on who is asked, the answer varies. Many point to Trump, Sanders, Clinton, Cruz, or Kasich. Others point to third-party candidates from the Libertarian, Green, or other parties. Many point to ideologies, such as conservatism, liberalism, democratic socialism, or libertarianism. Some point to the government; others point to the free enterprise system. Others say that no one can save America, that the decline has become too great ever to overcome.

In order to answer the question of who can save America, we need to look at what made America great in the past, and what changed to cause America to decline.

I contend that what made America great in the past was following Biblical principles, and what has caused its decline has been the rejection of those principles.

The United States was never a “Christian Nation,” whatever that means. We were, however, a nation built on Biblical principles. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were based on the Bible. The vast majority of Americans were Christians, or, at least had a respect for Christianity and Biblical principles. The principles found in the Ten Commandments and Sermon on the Mount were the foundation for American ethics and law. We were never perfect; we allowed slavery, and we tried to exterminate indigenous peoples. However, the opposition to both was led by Christians who decried the practices on Biblical grounds. The concepts of individual responsibility and caring for others were both embraced. And God blessed the United States because of our respect for Him and our commitment to Biblical principles of morality and law.

Americans no longer have this ideological foundation. By and large, Americans have rejected Biblical principles. We no longer accept individual responsibility for our actions, nor do we accept our responsibility to help the less fortunate. God and the Bible are openly mocked; those who hold to Biblical morality are ridiculed and hated. The laws are changing to permit and encourage sexual immorality, greed, and other ungodly practices, while penalizing those who follow Jesus Christ. As in the days of the judges of Israel, everyone does what is “right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

Even the Church has largely rejected Biblical principles. We pick and choose those bits of the Bible we like, while ignoring the rest. Most of mainstream Protestantism and Roman Catholicism did this many years ago, but now, even much of Evangelical Christianity is doing the same. The goats are leading the sheep (Matthew 25:31-46); we have become the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-22). And God has cursed us (Galatians 1:6-9).

Because we once respected and largely obeyed God, He blessed us; and because we have now rejected what we once knew to be the truth, God has now removed His blessing. America is in decline, because we have rejected that which made us great in the first place – God’s blessing for obedience and respect.

Who can save America? Not Obama, nor Trump, nor Sanders, nor Clinton, nor Cruz or Kasich. No political leader can save us. Only Jesus Christ can save America; and He will not save us unless we repent and turn to Him once more.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.Psalm 33:10-12